Ronald Reagan and his advisers wage a twilight struggle with a decaying Soviet Union—and each other—in this fascinating documentary history. -- Kirkus Review

Did Ronald Reagan Win the Cold War? Jason Saltoun-Ebin has spent nine years at the Reagan Presidential Library and other archives finding the original documents and Oval Office notes that take us as close as we are likely to come to answering one of the great questions of the twentieth century.

The Reagan Files provides fascinating new material about the decision-making process of the Reagan presidency in the final years of the Cold War. The book takes the reader through the original letters, meetings and policy documents that chronicle the era, compiled with great energy and dedication by Jason Saltoun-Ebin.

I received the hard copy of The Reagan Files yesterday -- thanks so much! The book and the website are invaluable for understanding both President Reagan and the era. ...

While writing my first book on Reagan entailed divining information from scraps here and there, this time around I have the good fortune to have scholars like yourself and Tom Blanton, Svetlana Savranskaya, and Vlad Zubok who have done so much to make primary documents widely available. Thank you!

“Your web site is invaluable. I've used it innumerable times in my own research. I am the author of “The Presidency of Ronald Reagan,” which will be published next year by the University Press of Kansas. Your web site made it possible for me to reduce the amount of time I spent copying files at the Reagan Library and also to have ready access to some documents that I might have missed in my own research. I have quite a few graduate students working on Reagan topics, and all of them know about your web site.”

-- Chester Pach, Ohio University

Students of history will find fodder for dissertations and discussions in the transcripts of the National Security Council meetings and declassified letters contained in The Reagan Files.

-- ForeWord Clarion Reviews

The Reagan Files ... is a rich collection of declassified letters, transcripts and National Security Council meeting minutes gleaned from the Reagan Library concerning U.S.-Soviet relations and the end of the Cold War.

In this important meeting between Prime Minister
Thatcher and President Reagan, Thatcher and Reagan discuss all areas of
East-West relations. In terms of arms control, Thatcher emphasizes that
“British and French forces don't belong in INF or START” negotiations, but that
she would be willing to reduce British forces once the Soviet Union drastically
reduced its intermediate range weapons.

Most
significantly, Thatcher differs from President Reagan in insisting that the
Western allies “strive to establish normal relations” with the Soviet Union
because “we must live on the same planet with the Soviets.” Reagan and Thatcher
also agree that when a “mutually advantageous” opportunity arises, the Western
allies should work with the Soviets.

The Strategic Defense Initiative

A) Discussion Questions

What was the SDI? Why did the press label SDI “Star Wars”?
What role did SDI play in arms control negotiations? How did SDI contribute to
the end of the Cold War? Can you think of any arguments for why SDI may have
prolonged the Cold War? Almost 30 years after President Reagan announced the
SDI on March 23, 1983 the United States still does not have a working SDI
system. Did the potential benefits of SDI (giving people hope that nuclear
annihilation was not inevitable; supporting American defense contractors;
bargaining chip for Reagan during negotiations with Gorbachev; others?)
outweigh the negative consequences (almost four billion dollars spent on SDI
research by 1991 and no results; contributed to budget deficit; prevented
Reagan and Gorbachev from reaching the START agreement in 1988).

You’ve
got to remember that the whole thing was born of the idea that the world needs
to get rid of nuclear weapons. We’ve got to remember that we can’t win a
nuclear war and we can’t fight one. The Soviets don’t want to win by war but by
the threat of war. They want to issue ultimatums to which we have to give in.
If we could just talk about the basic steps we need to take to break the log
jam and avoid the possibility of war. I mean, think about it. Where would the
survivors of the war live? Major areas of the world would be uninhabitable. We
need to keep it in mind that that’s what we’re about. We are about bringing
together steps to bring us closer to the recognition that we need to do away
with nuclear weapons.”